Songwriting Is Dead

Is music getting worse?

As attention spans become ever shorter, creativity and originality is in short supply in popular music, with the adoption of a quantity over quality mindset.

The consumption habits of today's society are driving songwriters to write for TikTok audiences, as this is the fastest route to big numbers and success. But is this affecting the quality of our art?

I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments 👇

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00:00 - Is Music Getting Worse?
00:46 - The Backstory
03:55 - TikTok
05:55 - Algorithm vs Art
08:04 - A&R
11:29 - Songwriting
13:04 - Attention, Attention, Attention
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Let's work together on your music.

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👇 ABOUT ME:
Hey! I’m Damian Keyes and I've worked with musicians every day of my life for the past 20 years. The internet is de ply untrusting understandably and here is my background so you can have the full picture.

When I was 18, I was signed to a major label and at 23 I co-founded a Music University in Europe called BIMM (valued at $300M). I’m also a bass player, I’ve played for a number of artists including Eric Clapton, Alanis Morrisette and Billy Cobham. I initially retired at 30, but realised that life gets boring if you’re not building!

I have always been in-between the music industry and education which is how I ended up building my YouTube channel - I’ve been teaching artists how to release music long before it was a ‘niche’! I now educate artists around the world with my Academy, YouTube channel and Social Agency.

It’s great to meet you and looking forward to working together on your music!

[Jeronimo]

I’m still going to write the most crafted songs I can, and if that means I have 8 followers, so be it. 🤷🏻‍♂️🙏😎

[flocater_worldwide]

Not even just that Ghost Writing took over and mid music is being promoted, but when you call it out you get hated instead

[LoneCairn]

And there's small bands like us, just trying to make good music for the sake of it !
Sadly, we might never make significant money with it, but somehow that's liberating : we can do whatever we want, experiment, be creative, and have fun in the process. We don't have to care about making something that NEEDS to make money.

[MarshallTitus]

Thank you Damian for another thoght provoking question. Being a songwriter I know that songwriting is not dead and will never die, but you are right in saying the whole system of delivery has changed which forces us, the songwriters and artist to adapt, and evolve in this new environment . It's not for the faint of heart.

[isaacandrews]

I think it is the possible reality that top shelf songs with complex lyricism and key changes are buried under the filth that the algorithm feeds us. It's definitely a find and seek thing now. I've stumbled across great stuff from the underdogs.

[True-Being]

Great piece as ever. You’re right he majority may well be copying the trends and putting short term gains above their song writing but we’ve seen with songs like Ren’s “Hi Ren” that crafted, deep, emotive songs still have a place and can impact the this world. We’re not all as talented but it gives us hope.

[SaintBash]

I started on SoundCloud about 3 months ago and after releasing 3 songs.. I'm working on a 6 song EP. I'm doing it because I love creating and singing. I'm noticing whenever I start thinking about promoting, I get overwhelmed. A lot of people are more focused on creating gimmicks to promote themselve but the music and art is not good. I'm not like that, my focus is making sure the music is done well; being I'm a DIY recording artist

[stereofidelic]

The same reason why movie script writers can't pen an original idea anymore.Not enough people are reading literature and are basing their concept of what makes a good movie, off of other movies.

[TheWorldsNoSuperstar]

In our industry, we're always taking risks and choosing paths that align with our vision. Whether it's making music for commercial purposes or crafting pieces with deeper inspirational value, every decision we make reflects our commitment to creativity and authenticity.

Embracing these choices allows us to connect with our audience in meaningful ways and continue pushing boundaries. Damian Thank you for being part of this journey with us. 🎶✨

[ameeththomas]

Here are the Basic Rules
1. Storyteller
2. Musician
3 Content creator/ entertainer
4. Videographer
5. Mixing Engineer / Producer/ Colorist/ Photographer/ Video Editor/
6. Merchandising manager
7. Tour Manager
8. Merciless and ruthless when it comes to what you do
9. And a Fuck You Attitude
If I am missing something let me know :)

[freakuensea]

The takeaway we have after watching your many lessons here on YouTube and in DK-MBA is that the "tough balance" you speak of at the end is really crucial. Even if you don't take "risks" in the songwriting per se, you can still make a great song, while maintaining an identity. And since you gotta maintain consistency you can still release your experimental songs. Once a loyal fanbase is there, all boundaries and limitations are lifted.

So thank you Damian! Because we won't have this perspective without your lessons :)

[JohannesSteinray]

Good video. I’ve been asking something similar for the last year and let’s not forget that the music industry has always been difficult for all the artists that we never heard of. I don’t believe that most people know what they want. So the most important question as an artist is, how can we get ahead, create, manipulate or somehow control the market, like some artists has managed to shape the sound despite corporate rules as you also mentioned. Many of these artists are inspired by other artists so you can say they act on behalf of many. As a composer, songwriter I feel it’s our duty to fight, stand up for and not obey algorithms. In fact I’m surprised that no platforms like Amazon, Apple, TikTok, YouTube, Spotify etc. are owned, run or managed by artists with the highest interest in helping other artists. I even had these talks with famous musicians, singers and entertainers that strangely enough despite their lyrics about freedom, fairness, love and peace, have told me that they don’t want to rock the boat.

[suitefactory]

Wow another great video. As a songwriter in the house.soulful house.funk, gospel genres. one of the problems i see is we have lost music tribes. Years ago we had people who followed music who wore clothing, had a clear id of who they were..The pubs, places met in person were critical to sharing music. The soulful house and northern soul scene is growing with younger people and artists released are followed long term. Music was the opener to many conversations and friendships, , , , because of a t shirt in a meeting place, then bands got formed. When I ask young people what music they like it is 9 out of ten..a bit of everything, but in reality the saturation is the killer. When you went crate digging years ago, it was forms of conversation. Music for many of the public has always been of low value it is sad to say.When is see a sea of young people dressed the same it has worried me for music There will always be true people to certain music genres.If your a new writer focus on your tribe and grow. Build true artistry, not follow trends. Quality and creme will always rise to the top.Our job as writers is to create the hook and be relatable, Motown proved this and is still played today and will for time.Watch all of Damians videos because everyone is gold.

[jasonstallworth]

Food for thought: Don't try to be in the 'top 40' in the mainstream world. Rather, write the type of music you want and learn how to market and promote, and build your own audience based on that. There's an audience for almost everyone. But it does take work outside of just being an artist.
I'd also say don't rely on just streaming (obviously). Have your own physical CD (vinyl) and merch shop. It's not about going after the masses - it's more about building a small, but engaged audience.

[roweus]

I feel like I share my position with you. I think there is a lot of great music out currently, but I also think our standards for what we consider to be "great" have dramatically decreased. I love that you brought up the homogenization of songwriting and I think it can honestly be applied to homogenization of music in general as well. Since we have had this new wave of pop punk artists, which I have a lot of opinions on, I've started seeing producers straight up selling cookie cutter pop punk instrumental tracks where you can get like four to five instrumentals for like $50. Which would sound like a great idea if you're mainly a vocalist, until you realize that anyone and everyone can also buy those exact same instrumentals. I mean it's basically asking for a large number of artists to essentially release the exact same song at the end of the day. I don't even think just songwriting has been homogenized, it's almost as if music as a whole is currently being squeezed to try to fit into one singular box where it does one thing and one thing only, but since it's so much more than just that one thing, it can't fit. I do believe that eventually it will bounce back and we'll see more artists start to experiment and take the time to actually get involved with the music themselves. As someone who is involved with more of the modern pop punk scene, it's always weird for me to play shows because I stick out like a sore thumb in the best way possible. I've played a show to four people and still sold merch specifically because my songs have stood out and impressed people. And every time I think about why that is, I always come to the same conclusion. I just take my time. I don't rush things. I don't try to flood people with music. When a song is done, it's done. There's no timeframe on when that is and I enjoy having that freedom because I've expanded so much of what I've been able to do and it has made me quicker in the decision making process. I think a lot of people want to skip over all of those steps and just be able to release songs that make them blow up quickly, but the downside is that they always lose all of their traction because they just start releasing the same song over and over again. All of the songs that people have pointed out to me as their favorites are songs I worked on for months, rewrote the lyrics or structure multiple times, etc. And I think in the end the constant want for instant gratification, the want for instant virality or fame has pushed people into compromising like you said in this video. They compromise every part of their music that makes them unique and stand out and is actually what's drawing people in, for the same cookie cutter stuff everyone else it putting out. I hear people ask a lot "why don't we have another DSOTM or The Wall?" or "why don't we have another Bohemian Rhapsody??" And the answer is simple. We don't let artists sit in the studio and create a song like that. We don't foster that creativity anymore because to most people "it takes too long." Going back to an earlier point, I do think that it will bounce back and start to foster that creativity again, but only after this homogenization reaches a point where new music is so derivative that it's pulling from songs released within the same decade. It's gonna take music essentially getting so uncreative for that pendulum to swing back to fostering unique artists and sounds. And the truth is, I think we are already heading down that path. Now that doesn't mean it'll happen anytime soon, but it also doesn't mean we should give up, because it eventually it will swing back around and the people who have sat and written song after song after song will have their time. It's always going to be an ebb and flow with music, you just have to know when you need to jump headfirst into it.

[BK-iwzm]

We just live in a brain dead world now. The art in everything sucks. Everything is trying to be the same as everything else.

[LeonardHeussComposer]

Great video, as always. I decided long ago to only compose classical music. Exactly because of what you discribe.

[JamesStoddah]

An excellent perspective on songwriting. I am fascinated by the evolution of pop music and could talk about this stuff for hours (I probably bore my own kids about it when I do). I think we are in an exciting phase as far as pop music is concerned and I totally agree on this take. It will be interesting to see where it goes in another five years. I hate that there are no 'bands' in the (UK) charts at the moment, teenagers are not picking up a guitar and wanting to be in a band, like they were even in the MySpace/Emo days. Music is programmed, more than played. Not that it's a bad thing but the dynamics have changed.

[fallonmusic]

Hi thanks for the videos, I’ve watched quite a few over the years but haven’t commented before, love the work!

[brightonmischief]

Using your film analogy; amidst the Hollywood dross, we had Godzilla Minus One (the indie artist on a low budget) and EVERYONE was talking about it. All is not lost - new and relevant voices will emerge - but it'll be from someone doing something differently that we hadn't foreseen.